Top News – Romanello Victorious in Prague, Hellmuth's Gonna Dance with the Stars

And we're back with the top poker news to tell you about all the most important things that happened in the poker world last week. With just 4 days left til Christmas poker is still at large and no one stops playing, big poker events continue to give away millions in cash and the 2010 best are announced. So if you want to know what's happening in poker at the moment, then you're in a right place – OnlinePoker10 is here to bring you the top poker news of the week and quench your thirst for poker knowledge.

Roberto Romanello Scores at EPT Prague

If anyone asked you where was the guy named Roberto Romanello from, you would most probably say Italy, right? Wrong! He's actually from Wales and he is the newest European Poker Tour champion. Just three days ago he beat Emilliano Bono, who is Italian in a heads-up battle for the 2010 EPT Prague Main Event title and the €640,000 cash prize. Romanello started the final table only 5th in chips of 8 contenders, but managed to outplay his opponents and become the only player to remain at the table until the very end of the tournament.

The first one to get off the final table was Roberto Nulli, one of the three Italians in the final eight had the shortest stack from the beginning and didn't manage to make it very far in the last day. Nulli was very quickly followed by the Frenchman Manuel Bevand who got kicked out by the soon-to-be-crowned champion Romanello. Just minutes after, Jan Bendik from the Czech's neighbor Slovakia hit the rail as well when his pair of kings fell to Peter Skripka's set of nines.

After the first three players left the game at its very start, the rest of the crew decided to slow things down and played the five-handed game of the next two hours. Marco Leonzio, another Italian and a chip leader coming into the final table lost a few big hands and was finished-off by Romanello in a vs battle – Welshman got a four on a flop and Leonzio went home in 5th place with a €130,000 reward. The Russian PokerStars online qualifier Peter Skripka finished in 4th place and received €163,000 in cash after going all-in and getting busted by Marcin Horecki's triple tens.

It was the same Polish PokerStars Pro Horecki who went down in third place from Bono's second pair coming on the lucky river and busting Horecki after going all-in with an hand. The heads-up play could go either way, but in the long run Romanello proved his advantage over Bono and outplayed his opponent to secure the EPT Prague title as well as the €640,000 cash prize.

These are the final 2010 EPT Prague standings and payouts:

1. Roberto Romanello – €640,000
2. Emilliano Bono – €435,000
3. Marcin Horecki – €247,000
4. Peter Skripka – €163,000
5. Marco Leonzio – €130,000
6. Jan Bendik – €100,000
7. Manuel Bevand – €71,000
8. Roberto Nulli – €54,550

The PokerNews live reporting team was in Prague and made lots of videos including the champion interview and a wrap-up video, you can find them all in the PokerNews video section. We at OnlinePoker10 decided to share some holiday joy, so here's the official PokerStars EPT Prague party:

Ladbrokes Plans to Buy 888

Back in 2006 the betting and poker operator Ladbrokes was going to purchase their fellow online poker and casino company 888 for £470 million. However, due to the uncertainty in the US online poker market and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act taking effect, the deal was off. In December 2010 the two companies have once again announced their merging plans, only this time for a much smaller price – £240 million or £70 per share.

The statement to the London Stock Exchange was released by Ladbrokes and 888 on Monday morning pointing out that “there can be no certainty that these discussions will ultimately lead to an offer.” The head of Ladbrokes PR Ciaran O'Brien commented the situation by saying that the talks were in the “early days,” and “nothing was certain” yet.

So the outcome of the “merging talks” is still unclear and how the deal would effect both Ladbrokes and 888 users remains the questions which is still to be answered, most likely after the official announcement of the deal actually taking place.

Hellmuth on Dancing with the Stars?

Twitter is like a must-have to all the top poker players if they want to be on the map and remain in the top spot in terms of popularity. Thousands of people are following the pros on twitter and all those in Phil Hellmuth's followers list already know that just 3 days ago the Poker Brat posted this on his wall: “OMG! Phil Hellmuth (me!) on “Dancing with the Stars!” Outrageous! Might make a fool out of myself on Worldwide Television one more time...” which means that Hellmuth is now an officially recognized star!

The news also means that poker is becoming a bigger thing each day and even the most popular TV shows are becoming involved in the whole business. Plus, we as well as most of you are more than excited to see the man who makes such notable and entertaining entrances for the biggest poker tournaments perform in one of the most popular events on television. Hopefully the Poker Brat will tell us more about his appearance on Dancing with the Stars in the nearest future, but for now, you all know where to find him.

The Royal Flush Girl Voted Maxim's Hometown Hottie

If you're aware of the World Poker Tour you know who the Royal Flush Girls are. And if you don't you can always go to the WPT website and find out. Today's news is that one of them RFGs was named Maxim's 2010 Hometown Hottie! And it was none other than Melanie Iglesias – the 22-year-old from New York beat thousands of other hot contestants and was voted #1 Hometown Hottie by the Maxim readers.

“It’s no surprise Melanie won,” said Steve Heller, CEO of World Poker Tour. “She has grace, beauty, smarts, wit and ambition. She’s the total package. We’re thrilled for what this victory will mean for her career and how it will elevate even more the tremendous impact of the Royal Flush Girls as brand ambassadors for the World Poker Tour.”

“I was so excited and shocked when Maxim called to tell me. What an amazing honor!” said Iglesias. “First, I get picked to be a Royal Flush Girl, then I’m fortunate enough to win this great contest – it’s been an unbelievable year.”

Check out Melanie Iglesias' picture gallery @ NeverwinPoker.

And that's that for today, be sure to join us next time for all the top poker news only at OnlinePoker10.